WHY DRESSEL DIVERS?

The denomination comes originally from the search of a name that would sound good with the word “divers”. Being in the Guardia Civil (the “Guardia Civil” is the largest public security force at the national level in Spain, an armed institution of military nature that is part of the security forces of Spain), and on duty as a diver, we were studying and protecting the archaeological Spanish heritage in our seas, so we did have quite some information and writings about ancient amphorae. When I saw the name Dressel I thought of it as a perfect match, plus it is a very important name in history for any archaeologist. Many amphorae, containers used by ancient Romans and Greeks, received the name Dressel after Heinrich Dressel, a German archaeologist who classified them and who established an ancient amphorae classification typology, based on its pioneer excavation in Testaccio Hill. In 1872 Heinrich Dressel started digging in Testaccio Hill, and he found the inscription “tituli picti” in many of the amphorae. It was Dressel who was the first one to study and decipher these data, as well as dating the Hill’s formation era. He also discovered that most of the amphorae that were found in the hill came from the Baetica Province, in Hispania, and that those were used for the transportation of olive oil. Based on the great amount of data obtained throughout his investigations and excavations, he created an amphorae typological table, grouping them based on their shape, being this table nowadays a worldwide reference.

Typology of the amphorae classify by Heinrich Dressel, who gave us the inspiration to name our scuba diving company this way

Although he is better known for his numerous books on Latin inscriptions and for being the discoverer of the inscription “Duenos”, one of the most ancient existing examples of written ancient Latin. The inscription “Duenos” is one of the first written registers from Latin and it’s a three-line text inscribed in an art craft piece consisting in three vases together. It was named after the first Word –Duenos- that means “good” in archaic Latin. I believe that “DRESSEL DIVERS” is partly named after this person to honor his memory. The logo is inspired in one of the amphorae that he classified and typified as “Dressel 19”. Although it didn’t come out as I expected nor exactly similar to the mentioned amphora, the design was made by a good friend and colleague diver from the Guardia Civil, with whom I went through tough situations many times during our duty as GEAS, who put so much enthusiasm in this project of designing this logo and my new enterprise that I got really attached to this logotype and it has remained like this ever since. Many people have tried to change the logo, but I stick to it and it will stay as it is, at least while I’m still alive. I love it!

Javier Ibran, ‘Dressel Divers’ Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Founder.